Respirators with filters that provide artificial breathing to a user, may encounter unwanted high breathing resistance due to the filter filling. It is known, that increased breathing stability may be attained through an an auxiliary blower or bellows (see GBN-A 2 058 577, DE-GM 7914 929). This way the resistance against the breathing function can be lowered to an imperceptible degree for the wearer of the apparatus. Since the breathing activity supported by a blower requires that a much larger quantity of air than actually needed be conducted through the filter in order to cover the person's need for breathable air during strenuous activities, large quantities of air continuously flow through the filter even when not needed for the support of the breathing function. For this reason the filters are subject to greater strain than necessay, which results in a premature rupture of the filters, thereby reducing the time of usage of the respirator. In order to increase the durability of the filters and prolong the time of usage of the respirators, it would be necessary to provide the filters with sufficient voluminous filter material. This would result in bulky devices which would be difficult to carry due to the heavy weight and its unwieldy volume.